The Wisdom of the Egyptians

The Story of the Egyptians, the Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, the Ptah-

Hotep and the Ke'gemini, the "Book of the Dead," the Wisdom of Hermes

Trismegistus, Egyptian Magic, the Book of Thoth

Edited, and with an Introduction

By Brian Brown

New York: Brentano's

[1923]

CHAPTER VII

THE VISION OF HERMES

1

ONE day, Hermes, after reflecting on the origin of things, fell asleep. A dull torpor took

possession of his body; but in proportion as the latter grew benumbed, his spirit

ascended into space. Then an immense being, of indeterminate form, seemed to call

him by name.

"Who art thou?" said the terrified Hermes.

"I am Osiris, the sovereign Intelligence who is able to unveil all things. What desirest

thou?"

"To behold the source of beings, O divine Osiris, and to know God."

"Thou shalt be satisfied."

Immediately Hermes felt himself plunged in a delicious light. In its pellucid billows

passed the ravishing forms of all beings. Suddenly, a terrifying encircling darkness

descended upon him.

Hermes was in a humid chaos, filled with smoke and with a heavy, rumbling sound.

Then a voice rose from the abyss, the cry of light. At once a quick-leaping flame darted

forth from the humid depths, reaching to the ethereal heights. Hermes ascended with it,

and found himself again in the expanse of space. Order began to clear up chaos in the

abyss; choruses of constellations spread above his head and the voice of light filled

infinity.

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"Dost thou understand what thou hast seen?" said Osiris to Hermes, bound down in his

dream and suspended between earth and sky.

"No," said Hermes.

"Thou wilt now learn. Thou hast just seen what exists from all eternity. The light thou

didst first see is the divine intelligence which contains all things in potentiality, enclosing

the models of all beings. The darkness in which thou wast afterwards plunged is the

material world on which the men of earth live. But the fire thou didst behold shooting

forth from the depths, is the divine Word. God is the Father, the Word is the son, and

their union is Life."

"What marvellous sense has opened out to me?" asked Hermes. "I no longer see with

the eyes of the body, but with those of the spirit. How has that come to pass?"

"Child of dust," replied Osiris, "it is because the Word is in thee. That in thee which

hears, sees, and acts is the Word itself, the sacred fire, the creative utterance!"

"Since things are so," said Hermes, "grant that I may see the light of the worlds; the

path of souls from which man comes and to which he returns."

"Be it done according to thy desire."

Hermes became heavier than a stone and fell through space like a meteorite. Finally he

reached the summit of a mountain. It was night, the earth was gloomy and deserted,

and his limbs seemed as heavy as iron.

"Raise thine eyes and look!" said the voice of Osiris.

Then Hermes saw a wonderful sight. The starry heavens, stretching through infinite

space, enveloped him with seven luminous spheres. In one glance, Hermes saw the

seven heavens stretching above his head, tier upon tier, like seven transparent and

concentric globes, the sidereal centre of which he now occupied. The milky way formed

the girdle of the last. In each sphere there rolled a planet accompanied by a genius of

different form, sign and light. Whilst Hermes, dazzled by the sight, was contemplating

their wide-spread efflorescence and majestic movements, the voice said to him:

"Look, listen, and understand. Thou seest the seven spheres of all life. Through them is

accomplished the fall and ascent of souls. The seven genii are the seven rays of the

word-light. Each of them commands one sphere of the spirit, one phase of the life of

souls. The one nearest to thee is the Genius of the Moon, with his disquieting smile and

crown of silver sickle. He presides over births and deaths, sets free souls from bodies

and draws them into his ray. Above him, pale Mercury points out the path to ascending

or descending souls with his caduceus, which contains all knowledge. Higher still,

shining Venus holds the mirror of love, in which souls forget and recognize them in turn.

Above her, the Genius of the Sun raises the triumphal torch of eternal beauty. At a yet

loftier height, Mars brandishes the sword of justice. Enthroned on the azure sphere,

Jupiter holds the sceptre of supreme power, which is divine intelligence. At the

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boundaries of the world, beneath the signs of the Zodiac, Saturn bears the globe of

universal wisdom.

2

"I see," said Hermes, "the seven regions which comprise the visible and invisible world;

I see the seven rays of the word-light, of the one God who traverses them and governs

them by these rays. Still, O master, how does mankind journey through all these

worlds?"

"Dost thou see," said Osiris, "a luminous seed fall from the regions of the milky way into

the seventh sphere? These are germs of souls. They live like faint vapors in the region

of Saturn, gay and free from care, knowing not their own happiness. On falling from

sphere to sphere, however, they put on increasingly heavier envelopes. In each

incarnation they acquire a new corporeal sense, in harmony with the surroundings in

which they are living. Their vital energy increases, but in proportion as they enter into

denser bodies they lose the memory of their celestial origin. Thus is effected the fall of

souls which come from the divine ether. Ever more and more captivated by matter and

intoxicated by life, they fling themselves like a rain of fire, with quiverings of voluptuous

delight, through the regions of grief, love, and death, right into their earthly prison where

thou thyself lamentest, held down by the fiery centre of the earth, and where divine life

appears to thee nothing more than an empty dream."

"Can souls die?" asked Hermes.

"Yes," replied the voice of Osiris, "many perish in the fatal descent. The soul is the

daughter of heaven, and its journey is a test. If it loses the memory of its origin, in its

unbridled love of matter, the divine spark which was in it and which might have become

more brilliant than a star, returns to the ethereal region, a lifeless atom, and the soul

disaggregates in the vortex of gross elements."

Hermes shuddered at these words, for a raging tempest enveloped him in a black mist.

The seven spheres disappeared beneath dense vapors. In them he saw human

spectres uttering strange cries, carried off and torn by phantoms of monsters and

animals, amidst nameless groans and blasphemies.

"Such is the destiny," said Osiris, "of souls irremediably base and evil. Their torture

finishes only with their destruction, which includes the loss of all consciousness. The

vapors are now dispersing, the seven spheres reappear beneath the firmament. Look

on this side. Do you see this swarm of souls trying to mount once more to the lunar

regions? Some are beaten back to earth like eddies of birds beneath the might of the

tempest. The rest with mighty wings reach the upper sphere, which draws them with it

as it rotates. Once they have come to this sphere, they recover their vision of divine

things. This time, however, they are not content to reflect them in the dream of a

powerless happiness; they become impregnated thereby with the lucidity of a grief-

enlightened consciousness, the energy of a will acquired through struggle and strife.

They become luminous, for they possess the divine in themselves and radiate it in their

acts. Strengthen therefore thy soul, O Hermes! calm thy darkened mind by

contemplating these distant flights of souls which mount the seven spheres and are

scattered about therein like sheaves of sparks. Thou also canst follow them, but a

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strong will it needs to rise. Look how they swarm and form into divine choruses. Each

places itself beneath its favorite genius. The most beautiful dwell in the solar region; the

most powerful rise to Saturn. Some ascend to the Father, powers themselves amidst

powers. For where everything ends, everything eternally begins; and the seven spheres

say together: 'Wisdom! Love! Justice! Beauty! Splendor! Knowledge! Immortality!'"

"This," said the hierophant, "is what ancient Hermes saw and what his successors have

handed down to us. The words of the wise are like the seven notes of the lyre which

contains all music, along with the numbers and the laws of the universe, The vision of

Hermes resembles the starry heaven, whose unfathomable depths are strewn with

constellations. For the child this is nothing more than a gold-studded vault, for the sage

it is boundless space in which worlds revolve, with their wonderful rhythms and

cadences. The vision contains the eternal numbers, evoking signs and magic keys. The

more thou learnest to contemplate and understand it, the farther thou shalt see its limits

extend, for the same organic law governs all worlds."

The prophet of the temple commented on the sacred text. He explained that the

doctrine of the word-light represents divinity in the static condition, in its perfect balance.

He showed its triple nature, which is at once intelligence, force, and matter; spirit, soul,

and body; light, word, and life. Essence, manifestation, and substance are three terms

which take each other for granted. Their union constitutes the divine and intellectual

principle par excellence, the law of the ternary unity which governs creation from above

downwards.

Having thus led his disciple to the ideal centre of the universe, the generating principle

of Being, the master spread him abroad in time and space in a multiple efflorescence.

For a second part of the vision represents divinity in the dynamic condition, i.e., in active

evolution; in other terms, the visible and invisible universe, the living heavens. The

seven spheres attached to the seven planets symbolise seven principles, seven

different states of matter and spirit, seven different worlds which each man and each

humanity are forced to pass through in their evolution across a solar system. The seven

genii or the seven cosmogonic gods signify the superior, directing spirits of all spheres,

the off spring themselves of inevitable evolution. To an initiate of old, therefore, each

great god was the symbol and patron of legions of spirits which reproduced his type in a

thousand varieties, and which, from their own sphere, could exercise their action over

mankind and terrestrial things. The seven genii of the vision of Hermes are the seven

Devas of India, the seven Amshapands of Persia, the seven great Angels of Chaldæa,

the seven Sephiroths of the Kabbala, the seven Archangels of the Christian

Apocalypse. The great septenary which enfolds the universe does not vibrate in the

seven colors of the rainbow and the seven notes of the scale, only; it also manifests

itself in the constitution of man, which is triple in essence, but sevenfold in its evolution.

"Thus," said the hierophant in conclusion, "thou hast reached the very threshold of the

great arcanum. The divine life has appeared to thee beneath the phantoms of reality.

Hermes has unfolded to thee the invisible heavens, the light of Osiris, the hidden God of

the universe who breathes in millions of souls and animates thereby the wandering

globes and working bodies. It is now thine to direct thy path and choose the road

leading to the pure spirit. Henceforth dost thou belong to those who have been brought

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back from death to life. REMEMBER THAT THERE ARE TWO MAIN KEYS TO

KNOWLEDGE. This is the first: 'The without is like the within of things; the small is like

the large; there is only one law and he who works is One. In the divine economy, there
is nothing either great or small.' And this is the second: 'Men are mortal gods and gods
are immortal men.' Happy the man who understands these words, for he holds the key

to all things. Remember that the law of mystery veils the great truth. Total knowledge

can be revealed only to our brethren who have gone through the same trials as

ourselves. Truth must be measured according to intelligence; it must be veiled from the

feeble, whom it would madden, and concealed from the wicked, who are capable of

seizing only its fragments, which they would turn into weapons of destruction. Keep it in

thy heart and let it speak through thy work. Knowledge will be thy might, faith thy sword,

and silence thy armor that cannot be broken."

The revelations of the prophet of Amon-Râ, which opened out to the new initiate such

vast horizons over himself and over the universe, doubtless produced a profound

impression, when uttered from the observatory of a Theban temple, in the clear calm of

an Egyptian night. The pylons, the white roofs, and terraces of the temples lay asleep at

his feet between the dark clusters of nopals and tamarind trees. Away in the distance

were large monolithic shrines, colossal statues of the gods, seated like incorruptible

judges on their silent lake. Three pyramids, geometrical figures of the tetragram and of

the sacred septenary, could be dimly seen on the horizon, their triangles clearly outlined

in the light grey air. The unfathomable firmament was studded with stars. With what a

strange gaze he looked at those constellations which were depicted to him as future

dwellings! When finally the gold-tipped barque of the moon rose above the dark mirror

of the Nile which died away on the horizon, like a long bluish serpent, the neophyte

believed he saw the barque of Isis floating over the river of souls which it carries off

towards the sun of Osiris. He remembered the Book of the Dead, and the meaning of all

the symbols was now unveiled to his mind after what he had seen and learned; he

might believe himself to be in the crepuscular kingdom of the Amenti, the mysterious

interregnum between the earthly and the heavenly life, where the departed, who are at

first without eyes and power of utterance, by degrees regain sight and voice. He, too,

was about to undertake the great journey, the journey of the infinite, through worlds and

existences. Hermes had already absolved him and judged him to be worthy. He had

given him the explanation of the great enigma "One only soul, the great soul of the All,

by dividing itself out, has given birth to all the souls that struggle throughout the

universe." Armed with the mighty secret, he entered the barque of Isis. Rising aloft into

the ether, it floated in the interstellar regions. The broad rays of a far-spreading dawn

were already piercing the azure veils of the celestial horizons, and the choir of the

glorious spirits, the Akhimou-Sekou, who have attained to eternal repose, was chanting:

"Rise, Râ Hermakouti, sun of spirits! Those in thy barque are in exaltation. They raise

exclamations in the barque of millions of years. The great divine cycle overflows with joy

when glorifying the mighty sacred barque. Rejoicing is taking place in the mysterious

chapel. Rise, Ammon-Râ Hermakouti, thou self-creating sun!" And the initiate replied

proudly: "I have attained the country of truth and justification. I rise from the dead as a

living god, and shine forth in the choir of the gods who dwell in heaven, for I belong to

their race."

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Such audacious thoughts and hopes might haunt the spirit of the adept during the night
following the mystic ceremony of resurrection. The following morning, in the avenues of

the temple, beneath the blinding light, that night seemed to him no more than a dream .

. . though how impossible to forget . . . that first voyage into the intangible and invisible!

Once again he read the inscription on the statue of Isis: "My veil no mortal hand hath

raised." All the same a corner of the veil was raised, but only to fall back again, and he

woke up on the earth of tombs. Ah, how far he was from the goal he had dreamed of!

For the voyage on the barque of millions of years is a long one! But at least he had

caught a faint glimpse of his final destination. Even though his vision of the other world

were only a dream, a childish outline of his imagination, still obscured by the mists of

earth, could he doubt that other consciousness he had felt being born in him, that

mysterious double, that celestial ego which had appeared to him in his astral beauty like

a living form and spoken to him in his sleep? Was this a sister-soul, was it his genius, or

only a reflection of his inmost spirit, a vision of his future being dimly foreshadowed? A

wonder and a mystery! Surely it was a reality, and if that soul was only his own, it was

the true one. What would he not do to recover it? Were he to live millions of years he

would never forget that divine hour in which he had seen his other self, so pure and

radiant.

3

The initiation was at an end, and the adept consecrated as priest of Osiris. If he was an

Egyptian, he remained attached to the temple; if a foreigner, he was permitted, from

time to time, to return to his own country, therein to establish the worship of Isis or to

accomplish a mission.

Before leaving, however, he swore a formidable oath that he would maintain absolute

silence regarding the secrets of the temple. Never would he betray to a single person

what he had seen or heard, never would he reveal the doctrine of Osiris except under

the triple veil of the mythological symbols or of the mysteries. Were he to violate this

oath, sudden death would come to him, sooner or later, however far away he might be.

Silence, however, had become the buckler of his might.

On returning to the shores of Ionia, to the turbulent town in which he formerly lived,

amidst that multitude of men, a prey to mad passions, who exist like fools in their

ignorance of themselves, his thoughts often flew back to Egypt and the pyramids to the

temple of Amon-Râ. Then the dream of the crypt came back to memory. And just as the

lotus, in that distant land, spreads out its petals on the waves of the Nile, so this white

vision floated above the slimy, turbulent stream of this life.

At chosen hours, he would hear its voice, and it was the voice of light. Arousing

throughout his being the strains of an inner music, it said to him: "The soul is a veiled

light. When neglected, it flickers and dies out, but when it is fed with the holy oil of love,

it shines forth like an immortal lamp."

Footnotes

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1 The Vision of Hermes is found at the beginning of the books of Hermes Trismegistus,

under the name of Poimandres. The ancient Egyptian tradition has come down to us

only in a slightly changed Alexandrian form. It has been attempted here to constitute

this important fragment of Hermetic doctrine in the sense of the lofty initiation and

esoteric synthesis it represents.

2 It is unnecessary to state that these gods bore other names in the Egyptian tongue.

The seven cosmogonic gods, however, correspond with one another in all mythologies,

in meaning and attributes. They have their common root in the ancient esoteric tradition.

As the western tradition has adopted the Latin names, we keep them for greater

clearness.

3 In the Egyptian teachings, man was considered in this life to have consciousness only

of the animal and the rational soul, called hati and bai. The higher part of his being, the

spiritual soul and the divine being, cheybi and kou, exist in him as unconscious.

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